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# Blog No 38  Islands Draped in Pink
- URL: https://www.amosstoll.com/islands-draped-in-pink/
- Published: 2026-08-28T14:35:48.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-29T17:30:51.000Z
- Author: Amos Stoll

In 1983, two years after we had moved to Ft Lauderdale from Portland, Oregon, Michele and I were enamored by seeing the *Surrounded Islands*, an unique artistic exhibition that could be found about 30 miles south of us in Biscayne Bay. Miami was still in the throes of the partisan division caused by the Mariel Boatlift that brought 125,000 Cubans to south Florida, when Cristo and Jeanne-Claude, two artists with previous experience in environmental art, managed to convince city officials to allow them to surround 11 islands in Biscayne Bay with 6.5 million square feet of woven pink polypropylene fabric. The duo spent over $3 million of their own money on the project, as their practice was not to accept sponsorships, donations, or public grants. On the first day of work on the project, a windy rain storm halted the workers, but the fair weather of the following morning allowed the work to resume. It was through the unique talent of these artists in conjunction with their exceptional persuasive ability that the ambitious project saw completion.

We took a helicopter tour over the expansive art scene which was about the only way to appreciate it fully. The blue water of Biscayne Bay, the giant pink lily pads that surrounded each island, and the background of Miami Beach somehow turned out to be visually pleasing.

The artists did not arrive as neophytes, as in 1968-69, Cristo and Jeanne-Claude covered one million square feet of the rocky coastline in Sidney, Australia with fabric and rope. They had completed a project that had involved suspending 140,000 square feet of bright orange and yellow nylon fabric across a mountain valley in Rifle, Colorado (1970-72) and had seen the construction of a 24.5 mile-long white fabric fence over the rolling hills of Sonoma and Marin Counties that extended down to the Pacific Ocean (1977-78). Before that Cristo and Jeanne-Claude had displayed their art in Paris and Kansas City.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/17/4f/174f3fec-f5c2-4d3d-b484-712bf308644a/content/images/2026/08/IMAG0861.JPG)

Miami Beach in background

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/17/4f/174f3fec-f5c2-4d3d-b484-712bf308644a/content/images/2026/08/IMAG0867.JPG)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/17/4f/174f3fec-f5c2-4d3d-b484-712bf308644a/content/images/2026/08/Pink-Island-1.JPG)

All photos from helicopter by author